Professional and Business Practices
Pricing and the language of money
Professional practice requires you to separate cost, price, markup, and margin. Cost of goods sold includes flowers, hard goods, and containers. Labor, delivery, overhead, insurance, and profit must be built into price. Markup is a percentage of cost: price = cost × (1 + markup rate). Margin is a percentage of price: margin = (price − cost) ÷ price. They are not interchangeable. A 3× markup on a $60 wholesale cost gives $180; the gross margin is $120, or 66.7 percent. A target 30 percent margin requires price = cost ÷ (1 − 0.30), not cost × 1.30.
Contracts, communication, and ethics
Use written proposals and contracts for events: scope, quantities, substitutions, delivery windows, installation and strike, cancellation terms, deposit, and balance due. State that flowers are perishable and that minor substitutions may be necessary. Confirm the client’s approval in writing, especially for color palettes, personal flowers, and venue restrictions. Respect copyright and design credit; do not copy another designer’s proprietary work or images without permission. Carry appropriate liability insurance, comply with local licensing and sales tax, and price sustainably rather than undercutting to win work.
Worked example and rule of thumb
A wedding inquiry asks for “cost plus 20 percent.” If estimated cost is $2,000, cost-plus gives $2,400, but that may not cover labor or overhead. Build a budget by category-personal flowers, ceremony, reception, delivery, labor-then add overhead and profit. Rule of thumb: quote from a complete cost sheet, put every promise in writing, and never let a verbal change alter an order without a written revision and price adjustment.